Saudi Arabia cracking down on Brotherhood presence in schools
The Saudi Ministry of Education has taken a decision to sack schoolteachers with inappropriate ideological beliefs, in a move believed to be aiming at purging the Saudi society of the control of the Muslim Brotherhood.
In a statement
on May 15, Saudi Minister of Education Hamad bin Mohamed al-Sheikh said he had
given the heads of the different educational directorates the necessary mandate
to sack schoolteachers and school workers with inappropriate ideologies.
These sacked
workers, he added, would be given administrative jobs until Saudi authorities
take a final decision in the whole issue.
The minister's
decree does not deprive schoolteachers affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood
from employment opportunities. Nonetheless, the same decision seeks to keep
those teachers away from the classrooms, which gives them the chance to control
the Saudi society.
Other
countries are taking similar moves, including Sudan and the United Arab Emirates,
within a comprehensive plan to crack down on the Muslim Brotherhood's ideology
inside educational institutions.
Powerful
plan
Islamist
affairs specialist Hesham al-Najjar dwelt on the timing of the Saudi move.
He said Saudi
Arabia had taken a series of measures in the past years with the aim of
eradicating the Muslim Brotherhood ideology in the Saudi society.
This has been
particularly clear in the cultural field, al-Najjar told The Reference.
He said the
presence of a large number of Muslim Brotherhood figures within Saudi
educational institutions contributes to spreading the dangerous ideology of the
Islamist movement across the Saudi society.
Getting
to the roots
In March 2018,
the Saudi Ministry of Education sacked a large number of Muslim Brotherhood
figures from primary and middle schools.
Saudi
authorities also sacked a number of university professors affiliated with the
Brotherhood, within a larger plan for eradicating the ideology of the group
which was designated a terrorist movement by the Saudi government.
